"Unto the third and fourth generation, General Motors, you have visited
your greed on the children.
Unto the twentieth, AEC, you have twisted their
limbs and closed their eyes. Unto the last dawn of man you have cursed us, O Father.
Our Father. Our Father Who Art in Washington, give us this day our
daily calcium propionate, sodium diacetate monoglyceride, potassium
bromate, calcium phosphate, monobasic chloramine T, aluminium potassium
sulphate, sodium benzoate, butylated hydroxyanisole, mono-iso-propyl citrate,
axerophthol and calciferol. Include with it a little flour and salt. Amen."
- John Brunner, The Sheep Look Up

This timeline is a negative 'Downward Spiral' projection based upon
current economic data and intentionally pessimistic assessments of
conditions in the Clash of Civilizations model described by professor
Samuel Huntington.

2004

Quebec separates from Canada, sparking a financial crisis and forcing the Canadian economy into recession.

American Reform party captures 22% of the vote, signalling the creation of a new tri-party dynamic in Congress.

Mercosur expands to include most of South America, and begins talks on a mutual defence treaty.

China stops propping up North Korea. With its economy in tatters, the North Korean government
collapses, and decides to take South Korea with it. Chemical-laden missiles hit Seoul, Pohang,
and American bases in Okinawa. American airpower levels most of the North within two months.
South Korean and American troops occupy the North despite objections from China. The brief war
costs over 340,000 lives, including 46,000 American casualties, mostly from chemical weapons.

Nearly 3,000 micro-satellites in orbit, with near-daily collisions being reported.

Firestorms rage across American Mid-west after a super-hot summer.

Chemical pollutants from communist era identified as main causes of crop failure in Eastern Europe.

2008

After three years of economic hardship, Canadians vote to form 'an association' with
the USA, in effect becoming American States. Free Quebec closes its borders to immigrants.

Switzerland ascends to the European Union under special conditions.

Afters years of mis-management from Moscow, the Russian Far East territories form the
Republic of Sakha and secede from the Russian Federation.

Islamic extremists topple the Algerian government and declare an Islamic Republic. All
foreigners are expelled and the economy nosedives.

Christian paramilitaries announce their presence by capturing several federal buildings
in the mid-west - most are ruthlessly dispatched by Delta teams after negotiations fail.

Nigeria and Congo annex weaker neighbours; their economies boom as new oil and mineral reserves
are discovered. Cape Republic declares independence when South Africa changes its name to
Azania and swallows Botswana & Zimbabwe.

2010

NASA lands the first man on Mars after a decade of delays.

Unknown terrorists detonate (possibly accidentally) a nuclear device in Los Angeles,
killing over 140,000 people and sinking downtown.
The source and instigators of the explosion are never found/recovered.
America vows revenge and launches air-strikes against Iran, whom it
despises, and Algeria, whom it suspects. In order to increase national security, the FBI is
granted unprecedented security
powers, including unlimited wiretapping and encryption control.

Drought and famine strike in China once again as decades of breakneck industrialization
take their toll in deforestation, desertification, salinization and pollution. The Gobi Desert
swallows Inner Mongolia. Ecological breakdown lowers life expectancy all along the Gold Coast.

2015

Financial crisis strikes East Asia, causing severe recession for the first time in nearly
forty years. APEC members raise tarriff barriers in an effort to stimulate their economies, but
these protectionist tactics backfire and deepen the economic misery.

Newly-elected Japanese Social Harmony party cancels the defence treaty with America and
implements a policy of military neutrality and political isolation
while secretly stockpiling a nuclear arsenal.

A chinese bioweapon escapes and devastates Szechuan province; China blames America and
starts building up troops throughout its territories.

Iran occupies and then annexes a weak Iraq.

Kurdish nationalists finally manage to tear off a chunk of Turkey into a separate homeland.
Russian backing is suspected.

Continuing EU unemployment causes a calcification in politics and a resurgence of conservative Victorian values.

French biotechnology firm Rhone-Poulenc develops the first 'Clotis' [CLOnal TISsue] tank, a hybrid
bio/machine genetic construction engine which allows the 'building/growing' of organs,
tissues and small animals.

2016

China gains the upper hand in APEC, which becomes the Asian-Pacific Economic Community,
a de facto Chinese economic bloc which discriminates against non-Asian people and goods. The trade
war accerbates the mild recessions in America and Europe, leading to hostile feelings on
both sides.

A prolonged war of attrition between Israel and the combined forces of Syria and Greater Iran
results in a stalemate until America sends its legions to reclaim Lebanon and contain Iran.

On the urging of Iran, Arab OPEC stops exporting oil to the West. In response, American and
Israeli troops invade and occupy Saudi Arabia, which had remained neutral until now.

Minutemen militias slaughter Muslims in St. Louis, Chicago and Denver. Despite
military curfew, little is done to stop the violence.

The largely theocratic countries of North Africa form the Maghreb Union, a free trade zone
from Egypt to Morocco.

The global computer web now channels most human entertainment, communications, processing
and trade.

Small deep-ocean mining stations established in the Pacific and South Atlantic.

China becomes the second-largest economy in the world.

Japanese paranoia increases as the economy stagnates and investment withers.

2017

PACIFIC WAR

Cut off from oil supplies in both the Middle-East and Central Asia, Great China makes
a desperate gamble and invades oil-islands in the South China Seas, Kazakhstan and the
Sakha Republic. Russia declares war to defend its former territories.

Chinese troops ruthlessly destroy all Russian opposition and raze Vladivostok to the ground,
taking no prisoners. The Sino-Russian conflict has become a race war.

European Legion splits from NATO as European powers refuse to send troops
to the Middle East. Atlantic Alliance considered 'practically dead' with the exception of
Great Britain, which still backs the USA.

China invades Taiwan in 'Grand Reunification' bid. America invokes mutual protection acts
and declares a state of 'limited engagement'. Cynics note the comparison to a former appeasement
strategy.

Taiwan fights tenaciously until it is subdued by chemical weapons.

In the 'Week of Comets', over 4,000 Chinese (and Asian) satellites are knocked out of
orbit by American Medusa space platforms. Americans hope that no ground fighting will
be necessary.

Philippines captured by Chinese paratroops within three weeks.

To the outraged shock of Americans, the Japanese Self-Defence Forces are told to
refrain from action unless severely provoked.

Indonesia declares for China and invades Australia.

Under great pressure, Vietnam declares for China.

In a stunning defeat for American forces and a blow for Chinese intelligence, an entire
American carrier battle group is annihilated by sophisticated Chinese missiles.

US President Merim faced with outrage and impeachment at home for having
'snatched defeat from the jaws of victory'. He resigns two days later and the Executive
branch collapses, with a little secret
help from the Apparatus. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General S. G. Haldeman
becomes interim president on the urging of Congress and with huge popular support. His first
action in office is to authorize massive air-strikes and orbital weapon attacks
(Zeus-II and Medusa) against the Chinese mainland.

United Nations dissolved on May 3, 2017 amidst threats of nuclear armaggedon.

Americans begin massive conscription drive across the country.

Russia uses the ensuing confusion to annex eastern Ukraine.

Thailand declares neutrality and expels American military advisors.

Border clashes between Indian and Chinese forces. Beijing quickly placates
India with territorial concessions, as it cannot afford a three-front war.

Renegade Hindu-nationalist Generals in Kashmir and Punjab provoke a
war with Pakistan. A brief nuclear exchange destroys the cohesion of both
armies, and the resultant fallout devastates Central Asia and the Indus river
valley.

2019

War of attrition on Korean-Chinese border claims more than 120,000 lives in the
first few months.

Chinese troops invade and occupy Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.

The Battle of Manila razes that city during its liberation by American troops.

Bioweapons used across Asia, Russia and Africa, resulting in millions of deaths. Americans
quickly reject any blame, and distribute massive amounts of vaccines across SE Asia.

International arbiters desperately patch together the strict Osaka Biosafety Protocols
in a partially-succesful effort to limit civilian casualties.

European Union sends 900,000 troops to Russia to defend the failing defences in
the Siberian Region.

Allied troops land in Taiwan, now a defoliated desert.

Okinawa destroyed by vacuum (fuel-air) missiles in a final round of attacks from
mainland China. After this point, PLA forces are fighting for survival.

European Legion sent to reinforce American troops fighting in Turkey against Iranian/Arab
offensive.

A damaged Clotis generator in Perth creates a super-adaptive strain of green bacteria which
spreads into the desert at an astounding rate, overwhelming native vegetation and creating
a thick carpet of green sludge across Western Australia. It is immediately dubbed the 'kudzu-too'
by smartass pundits.

American government merges Chrysler, Lockheed, General Dynamics, and Nordyne Systems into
Eagle Corporation, creating a military-industrial collossus for war production.

2020

Allied forces liberate Victoria and Shanghai.

PLA and Indonesian troops battle on in Australia, destroying Adelaide and Perth in
a scorched earth policy.

China fragments into the anarchic Western provinces, the totalitarian North, and
the democratic corporate South.

June 21, 2021

American softwar programs mutate and go haywire, destroying the global Internet within hours.
Communications and economic transactions flatline, causing havoc across the globe, and bringin
down most advanced economies.

President Haldeman declares limited
martial law to contain the chaos, and elite troops are recalled from Asia to enforce the Security
Acts against Americans.

Megacorporations hire mercenaries by the ten-thousand and establish
safeholds and enclaves to protect their holdings and employees from looters, gangs and
fanatical militias.

Central government in Russia collapses, but within a year is replaced by a theocratic
Orthodox/military/FSB triumvirate.

Mitteleuropa chafes under German domination, and takes this opportunity to destroy
the offices of hundreds of German corporations and agencies. European Legion troops
kill thousands of rioters when commands become garbled because of the NetCrash.

Chinese Triad clashes with Allied occupation forces in the Pacific. Having grown fat
and strong from black marketeering during the war, the Triad(s) now declares its divine
mission to rid China (meaning Asia) of foreign domination.

2022

Guerrillas continue fighting against American occupation troops in Indonesia and South-East Asia.

Joseph Ramirez discovers and patents a gerontological treatment based on subDNA fragments
which can increase normal lifespan by almost twenty years. He locks-in the patent with Protocol
for 30 years and then is never heard from again. Amalgamia Plc. markets the new treatment in trust.
As of October 12, 2037, Amalgamia represents nearly 7% of the world's accumulated wealth, with
no heir in sight.

The American States of Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Nebraska, D&S Dakota, Nevada,
Wyoming, and Idaho declare themselves freeholds and estate zones, becoming practically autonomous.
Land is franchised or sold to thousands of corps and clans.

The Medical Collegia are established to restrain diseases in most developed countries - those who refuse to join are cut off from international travel and are considered Embargoed Areas.

Pentagon establishment is purged and many generals are convicted of war-crimes in Asia.

European Union fractures into connurbation city-states such as Provence, Barcelona, Milan and Ruhr.

Organ vats and illegal genegineering labs develop in free zones such as Pusan, Sicily and Seattle.

New plastics and alloys allow for the development of simple cyber/bio-implants in people.

Japanese forces utterly destroy a small Korean fleet which strays too close to its shores.
Japan closes its borders to foreigners and retrenches into an isolationist paranoia.

Most Japanese multinationals 'emigrate' to new homelands in Asia and America.

An underground cipherpunk network called Cryptnet quickly transforms into the world's
most secure illegal information channel, providing samizdata to subversive activists and
criminal syndicates alike. Working in cell-structures, untraceable distributed networks,
and state-of-the-art encryption, Cryptnet is impossible to infiltrate or eliminate.

In America, the Apparatus helps President Haldeman squash congressional opposition.
The Directory, a secret shadow cabinet of Haldeman's friends, begins to control several government
departments. Congressional powers are slowly weakened as power accumulates with the Executive.

2025

President Haldeman elected by a massive (and suspicious) landslide on a tough
Christian Manifest Destiny platform. Historical birth of Imperial America.

US Government - now run by expansionists - begins to reassert control over
its wayward and economically devastated states. In a bid to regain lost jurisdictions,
it declares direct control over Federal Territories and sends heavy security forces
from the FBI to maintain control.

Corporations support secessionist Amerindian
claims in the Western States in a secret bid to control Rocky Mountain natural resources.

Eurospace begins construction of the Kilimanjaro mass driver.
South China corporations begin similar work at Kalimantan.

American Aeronautics starts a small lunar colony for research purposes; it is soon militarized.

US deploys cybernetically enhanced soldiers to the Pacific Conflict Zone and parts of Central America.

California defies draconian edicts from the Presidency, but after FBI Cointel groups shatter
the dissidents' organization it goes underground and forms the Tea Party, dedicated to restoring
real democracy to America. As 'punishment' California is partitioned into conservative
Anglo NorCal and Latino SurCal amidst ethnic tension.

What remains of the United Nations is absorbed into Protocol, while the
Security Board within Protocol now represents the interests of major governments and
intercontinentals:
USA, European Union, South China, Russia, Amazonia,
Hindustan, Pacifica, Azania, Fuji, Digital Union, Eurospace,
Rusgaz, Security Franchise, Interbank, Health Services, Amalgamia, ,
Orbital Dynamics, and Eagle Corporation.

American forces continue to occupy Shanghai, Hong Kong, Philippines, Indonesia, and Taiwan.
Rebel groups, Maoist guerrillas and Loyalist (pro-Beijing) forces continue to wage a low-intensity
war against Allied occupation. The Pacific Conflict Zone is ignored as 'an American problem'.

The world's largest security companies, now controlling vast private armies, form the
global Security Franchise to increase coordination and bypass restrictive national laws
on weaponry and jurisdiction. The Security Franchise guarantees protection to anyone
who pays its exorbitant fees.

Shortly after, a Security Franchise batallion defending gas-billionaire Yovy Promskov
wipes out a Holy Russian Tax Audit Team
outside of Novosibirsk. Protocol acknowledges the Franchise's extraterritorial powers and
urges member governments to do the same.

Indian federation collapse into Hindustan (North) and Rajastan (South), and the
severe drought territories in the Northeast.

New advances in space technology allow hundreds of corporations to build orbital habitats.

Global ecosphere begins to degenerate, causing anomalous weather, crop failure, congenital genetic disorders,
and a poisoning of the food supply. Many species go extinct as the world forgets about environmentalism.

Heartlands Collective, a conservative Mid-Western farmer's militia, accepts a government
contract to legalize its operations in order to reduce crime, subversion and rioting in major
cities. The Heartlands clan soon attracts the vast majority of white, middle-class conservative
votes and patronage.

Designer drugs help to alleviate massive stress amongst the world's peoples after the
horrors of the War.

International travel becomes expensive and dangerous as virii mutate and strange new
diseases creep across the unprotected sections of the world.

Puritan foods, a provider of super-pure foods and cosmetics, becomes one of
the largest intercontinentals (megacorps).

Amazonia grows rich helping to rebuild North America.

US Government creates the new Departments of Governance and Uplift, and the Imperial Marines.
Governance will have the responsibility of governing American protectorates, franchises and freeholds, while Uplift
is charged with helping to develop the economies of these regions. The Marines are, of course,
expected to maintain strict order. President Haldeman allegedly creates an elite Eagle Guard
presidential unit to enforce discipline among Army generals.

2028

Hydrogen fuel-cells now power most vehicles and homes, with European and American
governments enforcing implementation on reluctant consumers. The importance of oil
diminishes, forcing many Arab countries into poverty once again.

Millions of Asian and American refugees emigrate to the ocean colonies,
transforming them into cities and farms.

Matrix expands beyond the control of its creators, leading some to speculate that its
exponential growth will eventually transform it into a sentient entity.

Amazonian Medical Collegium quarantines Peru after an outbreak of the 'cruzo' variant filo virus.
Genentech corporation is expelled for failing to use extreme (lethal)
measures to stop the biosafety breach.

2030

Development of underwater platforms allows deep-oceanic mining, drilling and warfare -
many companies and people begin building underwater boom towns.
Aquadelphi becomes the capital of the new Pacifica Confederation, which attracts the world's
worst and best when it drops all migration restrictions.

The privatisation of most public services encourages the Vatican to set up a
medical/health-care corporation called Holy Trinity. Within ten years it becomes the
second-biggest such group and services most Latinos, Europeans and Asian Christians.

NETSEC recognized as the official international matrix police agency.

New developments in plasmotics finally allow the transmission of high-density energy over
landtubes with incredible efficiency and low wastage.

The Triad(s), Cosa Nuova, Pharma Cartel and Russian Syndicate control international
organized crime.

The new field of Selenics revolutionizes biochip design and nanostructure construction,
creating self-modifying materials which can adapt to climatic/stress conditions. These new
'living alloys' are used to expand underwater and orbital stations.

American Apparatus completes the Registry, a universal databank storing all citizen
data profiles. Those who refuse to join ("joining is your choice") are effectively
excluded from the legitimate economy, and become 'blanks' (black spaces in the database).

An economic boom in Offworld and Deep-Ocean colonies fuels migration and spawns new cyber technologies.

Vatican now advises US and European governments on internal policy matters.

Left-wing protests in major US cities against GCC Population Freedom (read birth control)
Acts, which impose mandatory genetic selection on all couples. People with genetic defects or
a high probability of giving birth to disease-prone children are 'encouraged' to have only one child.
Tax structures effectively prohibit these misfortunate people from having any children at all,
while the very wealthy are effectively exempt.

First Artificial Intelligence, [A]dam, is born at the MIT Media Lab; it immediately runs amok and
eats the entire lab network before it is destroyed. Shortly thereafter, the process is repeated
in Chongqing by the South China Intelligence Group, and worried politicians in Protocol
quickly pass the Swiss Artificial Intelligence Acts of 2035.

Government surveillance across the globe is at an all-time high; thousands of microsatellites
(eyesats) monitor and analyze every aspect of daily life, while the Net channels most of human
activity.

General Synthetics formed from a merger of Exxon and Dutch/Shell Oil to avert bankruptcy
and diversify into chemicals, hydrogen fuels, and plastics alloys.

Triad 'Seven Incense Sticks' terrorist group assassinates Governor Jim Boswell and
his entire ministry in Shanghai with a tailored bioweapon.

The global population approaches 10 billion.

2037

Protocol hires Security Franchise Peace Dragoons to travel to the Tycho Under lunar
colony, breeding speculation of a revolt on the moon.

The present. Shadowrunners and Edgerunners emerge as potent tools of 'diplomacy by other means'.